Swing trading portfolio – week of February 13th, 2012
by Optrader - February 12th, 2012 11:08 pm
Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).
We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options.
Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.
To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here
Optrader
Swing trading virtual portfolio
One trade virtual portfolio
Guest Post: Charting The Federal Reserve’s Assets – 1915-2012
by Zero Hedge - February 12th, 2012 7:41 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by Tyler Durden.
Submitted by Thomas Gresham of Gersham’s Law,
Here we present a history of the Fed in charts. As you’ll surely glean from the below — the Fed has degenerated from a by and large passive institution (dealing only in high-quality self-liquidating commercial paper and gold) to an active pursuant of junk, an enabler of wars, a ‘benevolent’ combatant of the depressions of its own creation, a central planner of employment & prices and of course a forgiving friend to inconvenient market follies.
The Fed’s Assets from 1915 to 2012:
1915 to 1925
1925 to 1935
1935 to 1945
1945 to 1955
1955 to 1965
1965 to 1975
1975 to 1985
1985 to 1995
1995 to 2005
2005 to 2012
“See Something Say Something” Campaign Could Allow People to Label ANY AMERICAN a Suspected “Terrorist” … Just Like in NaziTown
by Zero Hedge - February 12th, 2012 7:29 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by George Washington.
LIST OF ACTIONS OR BELIEFS WHICH MAY GET YOU LABELED A TERRORIST GROWS DAILY
Every American could – literally – be labeled a suspected terrorist under current governmental criteria.
Specifically, the following actions may get a U.S. citizen labeled as a suspected terrorist today:
- Questioning war (even though war reduces our national security; and see this)
- Criticizing the government’s targeting of innocent civilians with drones (although killing innocent civilians with drones is one of the main things which increases terrorism. And see this)
- Stocking up on more than 7 days of food (even though all Mormons are taught to stockpile food, and most Hawaiians store up on extra food)
Holding the following beliefs may also be considered grounds for suspected terrorism:
- Liking the Founding Fathers
- Being a Christian (?)
- Being “anti-nuclear”
- Being “anti-abortion”
- Being “anti-Catholic”
- Being “anti-global”
Sping Trading Jobs
by Chart School - February 12th, 2012 7:13 pm
Courtesy of Declan Fallon
Stock Market Trader – No Experience Needed – San Diego
Commodities Trader Assistant – Fresno, CA
Junior Trader – Chicago
High Frequency Trader – NY
Secondary Market Trader – Kapolei, HI
Trader/Analyst – Securitized Product Specialist – NY
Sr Trader – Proprietary
Sr Trader – Proprietary, FL
Algorithmic Trader – NY
Trader, TIPS – Chicago
Finance Traders – No Experienced Necessary – LA
Experienced Trader – Chicago
Equity Trader ($50-70K) – Atlanta, GA
Portfolio Compliance Analyst – LA
C# Developer – Trading – Chicago
Commodity Trading Sales Representative – Burnsville, MN
Project Manager – $29-31/hr – Newark, DE
Order Execution Specialist – Chicago
Pricing Analyst – $90-110K – San Francisco
Senior Technical Analyst / Developer – NY
Good Luck!
Weekly Market Commentary: First (Mild) Weaker Weekly Close For 2012
by Chart School - February 12th, 2012 6:48 pm
Courtesy of Declan Fallon
The Nasdaq Bullish Percents added another couple of points – but has room to travel to resistance.
While the Summation Index is very close to all-time highs (and is doing a very good impression of the rally from the March 2009 low).
These gains in breadth were enough to keep the Nasdaq flat on the week (on lower volume)
Compared to the 2% loss in the Russell 2000
But there was also a flat close for the S&P on the week, also on light volume.
Given the length of the rally, last week’s losses on light volume were welcome. So a few more weeks like last will nicely set up the next phase of the rally. But with market breadth close too – if not already – at a point where an extended period of downside is favoured, discretion may be the better side of valor.
In this enviornment, stock breakouts are numerous – but most tend to be false moves.
—--
Dr. Declan Fallon is the Senior Market Technician and Community Director for Zignals.com. I offer a range of stock trading strategies for global markets which can be Previewed for Free with delayed trade signals. You can also view the top-10 best trading strategies for the US, UK, Europe and Rest-of-the-World in the Trading Strategy Marketplace Leaderboard. The Leaderboard also supports advanced search capability so you can tailor your strategies to suit your individual requirements.
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Athens By Night
by Zero Hedge - February 12th, 2012 6:16 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by Tyler Durden.
The Troika went to bailout Europe’s banks (for the nth time) and all we got was this postcard of Athens by night…
courtesy of Aris
Greek Parliament Passes Latest Austerity Vote
by Zero Hedge - February 12th, 2012 5:46 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by Tyler Durden.
The Greek parliament just passed the latest proposed austerity plan with a majority voting Yes. Judging by the reaction of the EURUSD, which experienced a modest 40 pip short covering squeeze in the last few minutes, one would imagine that today’s Greek vote outcome is surprising. It isn’t: after all, all Greece has done is promise to do something it won’t do in hope it can get another bailout package, this time amounting to €210 billion (of which its people will pocket a de minimis 19%). As we said earlier: “The only real questions are i) what the Greek population may do in response to this latest selling out of a population “led” by an unelected banker, which if history is any precedent, the answer is not much, and ii) how Germany will subvert this latest event, and put the bail [sic] back in Greece’s court once again.” Sure enough, to paraphrase what we said before, the question now is what the popular Greek response will be having learned its politicians sold it out yet again, which will likely be nothing much, as it is 1 am local time, and as everyone knows revolutions in heavily socialist countries only start between 9 am and 5 pm, with a 2 hour break for siesta. More importantly, keep a close eye on headlines out of Germany. That is all that matters now.
Average Gasoline Price Jumps To Highest In 5 Months
by Zero Hedge - February 12th, 2012 5:21 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by Tyler Durden.
Stocks are not the only thing enjoying the ECB’s $800 billion balance sheet expansion (and just announced additional Bank of England Quantiative Easing) over the past 6 months. Lately a new and unwelcome visitor has also figured out the Euroean Central Bank’s sneaky motives. No, not Germany, they still are hopelessly confused and still believe the ECB is not “printing” money. Nor gold. It did long ago, just as Roubini was calling for an imminent crash following the 200 DMA breach – it is headed over $2000 in short order. No, this time it is that last entrant to any reliqufication party, who just happens to be the guaranteed party-pooper: gasoline.
As the weekly Lundberg survey shows, in the week ended February 10, gas rose by 11.57 cents to $3.5101, the highest since September. The latest price is also 12% higher compared to a year earlier. What is troubling is that as the attached chart shows, the trend of gradual gas price declines has now firmly ended, having touched a low of $3.20, and has been replaced by a steady climb over the past 2 months. In other words, the US consumer’s retail spending has been far weaker than expected in November and December, and soon to be discovered in January, primarily due to gas purchases, which have already plunged as discussed recently, once again taking up a substantial portion of the discretionary spending basket (on credit at that). And what is worse, is that as the LTRO #2 is about to add another several hundred billion to the ECB’s balance sheet, which will ineivtably be followed by more Fed printing, the Gasoline trendline has only one way to go. Expect the recent highs of $4.00/gallon to be taken out shortly, and to lead to yet another GDP roll over once again. Alas, none of this will be a consolation to European readers, who a few days ago just saw gas hit all time highs.
Finally, we don’t have to remind our regulars, that as David Rosenberg has been warning, the biggest “benefit” to the economy in H2 2011 was the consistently declining gas price. Now that that is over, and prices are once again increasing, one can kiss that particular one-time stimulus to the economy goodbye.…
Why Are We Fighting On the Same Side with Al Qaeda?
by Zero Hedge - February 12th, 2012 4:22 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by George Washington.
Reuters notes that the leader of Al Qaeda – Ayman al-Zawahri – is backing the Syrian rebels, and asking his followers to fight the Syrian government.
Some of the main Al Qaeda fighters who overthrew Gadaffi – and now appear to be in control of Libya – are already helping the Syrian rebels.
This is curious, given that the U.S. is considering military options for ousting the Syrian government, American allies Britain and Qatar allegedly already have foreign troops inside Syria, and the U.S. has been planning regime change in Syria for over 50 years.
Mainstream reports also state that the U.S. and its allies are backing Iranian terrorists.
I thought Al Qaeda was America’s mortal enemy. Why are we backing terrorists?
Note: We Added a Facebook “Like” Button at End of Posts…
by Market Montage - February 12th, 2012 3:55 pm
Submitted by Mark Hanna
Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.
…because apparently I am the last person in the developed world under age 50 who does not use Facebook. But if you do… feel free to “like” any story of interest so your facebook apostles can read too.
Disclosure Notice
Any securities mentioned on this page are not held by the author in his personal portfolio. Securities mentioned may or may not be held by the author in the mutual fund he manages, the Paladin Long Short Fund (PALFX). For a list of the aforementioned fund’s holdings at the end of the prior quarter, visit the Paladin Funds website at http://www.paladinfunds.com/holdings/blog

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